Make-A-Wish granted a young girl's desire to be in a film — now she's an actress

Courtesy photo

Taylor Hay, center, who grew up in Ramona, continued on the path to becoming an actress after Make-A-Wish granted her request to act in a film when she was 9 and fighting lymphoma. The wish program gets funding from Macy's annual letters-to-Santa "Believe" campaign pictured here.

Taylor Hay, center, who grew up in Ramona, continued on the path to becoming an actress after Make-A-Wish granted her request to act in a film when she was 9 and fighting lymphoma. The wish program gets funding from Macy's annual letters-to-Santa "Believe" campaign pictured here. (Courtesy photo)

At 19, Taylor Hay is one who still believes and marks her calendar to attend Macy’s annual Believe Day. She was only 8 when diagnosed with lymphoma — non hodgkin’s lymphoblastic lymphoma, to be specific — a disease far more common in middle-aged men.

Over the next two years, Taylor, who lived in Ramona, was hospitalized 11 times. She underwent four surgeries and numerous medical treatments to fortify her immune system.

In 2009, when Taylor was extremely ill, she was selected by the Make-A-Wish Foundation as a “wish kid.” Her dream? To be in a movie. (She had actually been acting and doing commercials since age 4.)

Courtesy photo

In 2009, Taylor Hay, 9, was granted her wish to be in a film by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was the voice of a character in "Yes, Virginia" modeled after her.

In 2009, Taylor Hay, 9, was granted her wish to be in a film by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was the voice of a character in "Yes, Virginia" modeled after her. (Courtesy photo)

Make-A-Wish, which receives $1 from Macy’s for every Santa letter, worked its magic and its connections. Before long, the character of “Taylor Hay” was created in Taylor’s likeness in the animated TV film, “Yes, Virginia.” Taylor got to voice the character’s lines. She was in good company. Such luminaries as Neil Patrick Harris, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Bea Miller and Alfred Molina portrayed other characters.

Taylor and her mom, actress Debbie Britt-Hay, recently moved to the L.A. area so Taylor can pursue her acting career. She already has numerous TV series appearance credits and is planning a backup career as an entertainment lawyer.

Following the Make-A-Wish lead, Taylor, likewise, reaches out to sick children. Every two years, she hosts a “Star for a Night” event in which about a dozen kids with cancer get to walk the red carpet and spend an evening mingling with celebrities.

“I wouldn’t change it for world,” Taylor says of her illness. “It really shaped me for what I’m doing now and made me who I am. It was life-changing.”

Her mantra became: “Just because I have cancer doesn’t mean it has me.” And her takeaway lesson: “Never give up.”

So Taylor still believes in miracles because she lived one.

John Freeman photo

Nice investment: This painting by former S.D. Charger Ernie Barnes was purchased by newspaper columnist Don Freeman for $100 in the early '60s. A football-themed artwork by Barnes, who died in 2009, just sold at auction for $17,000.

Nice investment: This painting by former S.D. Charger Ernie Barnes was purchased by newspaper columnist Don Freeman for $100 in the early '60s. A football-themed artwork by Barnes, who died in 2009, just sold at auction for $17,000. (John Freeman photo)

Growing appreciation: For 55 years, a football painting by the late San Diego Charger Ernie Barnes hung in the San Diego family room of the Don Freeman family.

The offensive lineman was also a struggling artist. In the early 1960s, when he needed a few bucks, he asked San Diego Union columnistDon Freemanto buy a painting for $100.

One of his paintings was on the cover of a Marvin Gaye album. Others were featured in the mid-’70s sitcom “Good Times” when Lear hired Barnes to “ghost” paint for the J.J. Evans artist character played by Jimmie Walker.

Last month, in an online auction, a football painting by Barnes, who died in 2009, sold for $17,000; another went for $10,000.

When his parents moved, John and his brother sold the football painting, which John had nicknamed Gridiron Hero, to a childhood buddy who had long admired it.

Imagine John’s surprise the other day when he unexpectedly was reunited with the painting that had been a family room fixture for decades. He attended the opening of the San Diego History Center exhibit, “A Legacy in Black,” spotlighting local African-American artists through April 15.

“When I walked into the exhibit, my heart skipped,” said Freeman. “It’s the first piece you see when you enter.”